China’s state-owned Shandong Hi-Speed Group has won a €1.3bn contract to build an 83km stretch of expressway in Serbia from the northern capital Belgrade south to Sumadija and Pomoravlje in the centre of the country.

As reported by Xinhua, it’s the first section of a 125km-long expressway connecting to the Pan-European Corridor X by 2035.

The project is named after Đorđe Petrović, leader of the first Serbian uprising. It will form part of the “Serbia 2035” development plan.

The European Parliament notes that as of 2022, China has invested €10.3bn in Serbia’s economy, which includes €8bn in infrastructure loans.

Shandong Hi-Speed Group previously won a €138m contract to build the New Belgrade railway station.

Fellow state-owned company China Communications is currently working in a consortium to build a 22km, EU-funded railway bypass of the southern Serbian city of Nis.